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And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.
In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to his disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For these is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven. Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."
- Luke 11:53-12:12
In yesterday's reading, Jesus was asked to dine with a certain Pharisee. The Pharisee marveled that Jesus did not wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you. But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them." A lawyer (an expert in the Mosaic Law) present said, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also." And Jesus said, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore the wisdom of God also said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,' that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."
And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him. The Gospel teaches us that at this point the rift is open; Jesus has openly challenged the Pharisees and lawyers present in yesterday's reading with His criticism. Their response is to seek to accuse in return.
In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to his disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For these is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops." Leaven is often used throughout Old and New Testaments as something undesirable, an influence here which can permeate the whole. This leaven is that of hypocrisy. My study bible emphasizes Jesus' warning against hypocrisy: "All pretense and hidden evils will be exposed by God's light." We get a sense of Jesus as true judge, as Truth, as the light which shines to reveal truth. There's a kind of poetic tie to revelation of spiritual truth, and also to that which exposes and reveals a lie. It is also a warning to us about our own inner and outer truth, playing further upon the verses in yesterday's reading teaching us about cleaning the inside of the cup, paying attention to what we have to give of the things that are within us.
"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." My study bible says, "In the face of persecution and dangers the disciples are to fear only god, in whose power and providential are lies each person's ultimate destiny." Jesus uses three times the (plural) command to His disciples to fear Him who has power to cast in to hell. It's an emphasis to teach of the far more severe importance of the power of God to all they might fear in the world. Yet in the very next verse, He tells of our extraordinary importance, our essential preciousness to this same One. The very hairs of our heads are all numbered. Not even a single sparrow is forgotten before God.
"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven." Here is a powerful double statement, and similar to the juxtaposition earlier between the statement about the One we must truly fear, Who is at the same time the One who values us and knows even all the hairs on our head, for whom even the sparrows are not forgotten. Here, it is both Christ and the Spirit we are to respect: to confess and to honor. But it is blasphemy of the Spirit that won't be forgiven; that is, to label the Spirit's work in the world as something evil. My study bible says, "To say a word against the Son of Man is to reject His messianic claims. To many people, before their conversion, Jesus seems a mere man. Later, they are enlightened, repent and are forgiven."
"Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." Here is the guidance for the persecution to come; it will come as a result of their confession of Christ, and it will come as a result of blasphemy of the Spirit -- declaring the Spirit's work to be evil. And here is Jesus' response to this behavior, for all of us: we are to put our faith in the Spirit. To trust to the guidance of the Spirit in all things, in difficulties and persecutions, is to remain true to Christ, and to true witnessing which He here encourages.
Recently, I experienced a very difficult situation in which I was afraid that I should not speak out what I felt was spiritual truth, something that had been shared with many, and also shared with me from many sources. It was a situation that was very difficult and very perplexing, quite upsetting. But I found that the one and only thing I could really do was to trust to the Spirit in this sense: that I simply could not plan, but the best I could do was put all things in the hands of God in my next meeting with the person who'd hurt me. I was quite surprised at the outcome. In fact, it seems that no matter what I might have planned personally as an alternative, the outcome to this trust could not have been bettered. It was a sense of elation at the outcome that is the only thing by which I can convey my experience. I felt that I was taught a lesson, and that by leaving things in the hands of God I was able to encounter not only a very surprising situation (and one with a far better outcome than any of my plans would have made), but also an opening of a door for me to learn new things in the future. I don't know that every outcome for every situation will be one of elation, but I do know what my experience did for me. Let us give all things to His hands, to open the door to surprise and new outcomes, and for forward movement in His Way.
